Recorded in a number of spellings including Lednee, Ledner, Lednor and Ledamun, this unusual and interesting name is of German origins. It is a development of the occupational name Leider (German) or Leather and Leatherman (English) and given to a leatherworker or dealer in leather. The derivation of this surname is from the Old English and Anglo-Saxon pre 7th Century 'lether', the Leatherworkers being one of the first of the Guilds established in the 12th century. Anything connected with leather manufacture was an important medieval occupation, since this included in addition to shoes and clothing, harness, saddles and various forms of ropes and thongs. The early recordings taken from authentic surving rolls and church registers of the city of London include Margaret Lednee who married John Gott at St Dunstans in the East Stepney, on July 30th 1638, and John Ledner and his wife Joyce, who were christening witnesses at the church of St Mary Aldermary on March 30th 1649. John Leddiman married Anne Ellexander on July 2nd 1658 at All Hallow's, London Wall, and the christening of Samuel Ledamun on October 22nd 1797, at Christchurch, Spitalfields, Stepney. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Robert Lether. This was dated 1524, in the Subsidy Rolls, for the county of Suffolk, during the reign of King Henry V111, 1509 - 1547. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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